How Do You Know If You’re Ready?

How do you know if you’re really ready to make a living doing what you love or simply, doing less of what you hate?

Well if you’re looking for concrete evidence, there isn’t any.  There are just some subtle hints that get louder and louder as time goes on…usually as things go wrong.

That’s the thing about those little inner naggings- sometimes they’re telling us what we should be doing, but sometimes they tell us what we sure as hell should stop doing.  If you’re looking for a big red flag that is going to successfully give you excuse to change, you won’t find it.

Too often people feel they need a doctor’s note to make a life change, but by the time that comes it’s too late.  When you have a heart attack from stress or you’ve put on an unhealthy amount of weight, it’s too late to take action when it matters.  When you have the stomach cramps, tension headaches and triple your caffeine intake just to make it through the day, don’t downplay the subtelty.

It’s easy to look for a hero to save you, or that golden reason you can excuse yourself from a bad job, empty relationship or finally embark on your dreams- but the person who will tell you it’s time to change isn’t a guru or a God…it’s just you.  Deep down, you know what’s going on and what’s going wrong- that little voice inside of you who is begging for change knows what’s up, take a listen.

 

[highlight]There are several ways to know if you’re ready for a change:[/highlight]

• Your don’t look & feel like yourself.  Weight gain, weight loss, a flimsy impaired immune system or you’ve stopped your normal self-care routines.  If the person you are now is worse off than the person you were months or years ago and you hate the way you look/feel & can attribute it to your current job or relationship, it’s time to change.  You’re sick and tired of being sick and tired- it doesn’t have to be that way forever.

• The cognitive dissonance is getting rather annoying.  The more you contemplate making a change from the way things are, the louder you rebel against it or try to shove it aside, silence it or ignore it.  If you’re shopping more, drinking more or hoping to distract yourself from what’s eating at you, oh boy, you know you’re onto something!  You may have the realization that you’re trying really hard to snuff the longing you have for change -that should be a big indicator.

• It’s getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning.  Believe it or not, some people wake up in the morning happy (even if drowsy and longing for coffee).  You may feel entrapped, but simply longing for more, different or better is excuse enough to quit what you’re doing and crafting an exit strategy.  It seems like a crap shoot to choose “personal happiness” over your current situation, but truly it’s justification enough to make a change.

• If your life at all resembles any of the characters from Office Space, take it as a sign you’ve recognized that things need to change.  You’re ready, now admit you’re ready.  Pack up your red stapler and avoid setting the building on fire- the only blazes you need to set are trails my friend!

 

Bullet points are totally convenient for making a point- but it all boils down to the life you’re writing right now.  Are you happy or are you not?  It’s that simple.  You’re the main character in your own life story, and every day you put down a new page.  Take a look at the metaphorical pen in your hand and ask yourself if you like the chapter you’re writing.  If it sucks, you need to change.  It’s as simple as that.  You don’t need a checklist, one indicator of dissatisfaction will do.

People can pay you for your time at a job you hate, but we all know that the money can’t buy the time back.  Like bullet points are convenient for making a point, excuses are convenient for making a dreadful life.  The problem is, they don’t hold up in a court of law and they won’t hold up when you look back on wasted time.

Nobody can define “wasted time,” but you.  There’s no golden rule, there’s no roadmap.  You just have to jump and hope the safety net appears, but trust me, it usually does.  Even if you jump and hit the floor with a resounding thud, rock bottom doesn’t hurt as bad as you think.  The doomsday scenario in your head sadly never plays out- if it did, there would be far better screenplays out there and you’d make bank selling your story to a major movie studio!

 

As a frugalpreneur myself, let me say- you are the best judge of your situation.  Nobody’s going to save you from your current situation.  You created it, now fight your way out.  Life can be so much better- I promise.  Even on my worst days as a DIY-business person, it’s still better than my life was before I started.  My utmost worst days doing my own thing aren’t that bad, and having that defining purpose in life is pretty stellar even when it sucks.

You’ve got the grit, you’ve got the gumption, now fight for yourself.  You know the answer grab your gonads and get out there… and if you need to, send me an email and I’ll give you a friendly kick in the pants! 😉  Shannyn@thefrugalprenuer.com is always on.